Golkar to disintegrate if Kalla runs for president : observer

If Golkar Party leader Jusuf Kalla who is vice president persists in his efforts to run for president, his party will disintegrate, a political observer here said.

"Akbar Tanjung who has great influence in Golkar will be encouraged to be Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono`s running mate if Jusuf Kalla pushes through his intention to contest the presidential election," Mochamad Yulianto, a political analyst at Diponegoro University, said here Saturday.

He said although Akbar Tanjung was no longer the chairman of the Golkar Party, he had remained an influential figure in the party`s structure.

According to Yulianto, Golkar`s failure to grab most of the votes in Thursday`s legislative elections could be seen as an indication that Akbar Tanjung was better than Jusuf Kalla as the party`s leader.

"Golkar may undergo the same experience as in the 2004 presidential election, if Kalla runs for president," Yulianto said, adding that in 2004, Golkar chose Wiranto as its presidential candidate and Sholahudin Wahid as his running mate while Kalla (who was then only a Golkar cadre) was chosen by Susilo Bambang Yudhoryono as the Democratic Party`s vice presidential candidate.

The pair nominated by Golkar at the time lost the first round of the presidential election, while Jusuf Kalla who was not supported by Golkar became Yudhoyono`s vice president.

Yulianto said, having won only 13 to 15 percent of the votes in Thursday`s legislative election, Golkar should coalesce with other parties if it wants to nominate its own presidential candidate.(*)